Review: You don't mess with the Zohan

What with the discussion raging on Israel I thought I'd go see "You don't mess with the Zohan" Adam Sandler's comic tale of an Israeli Special Forces Commando who wants to turn over a new leaf to become a hairdresser in New York (I actually checked this out of the net first to see if I was "allowed" to go see this, I can).

There are so many levels on which this comedy should not work. Its reliance on ethnic stereotypes for the gags, a subject matter that is well above sensitive, Adam Sandler's penchant for penis jokes, an extended cameo by Maria Carey which serves as little more than tedious product placement, the list is probably unending. However, despite all my expectations I actually thought it was quite funny, even good in places.

And by that I mean it made me laugh, not that I agree with its "political analysis" (if any).

The first thing to make clear though is that this is not a satire on Israeli-Palestine affairs but a slapstick series of very silly jokes that happens to be set in the region, where lead characters are supposedly protagonists in the conflict. People should not expect this film to a) make sense b) provide an historical treatise on the conflict c) avoid offensive stereotypes. BUT. You shouldn't expect it to be one sided Israeli propaganda either - although some people seem to think that is exactly what it is.

For instance "the portrayal of Palestinians as ugly, dirty, incompetent, stupid, goat loving terrorists was jammed down the viewer’s throat more times than Zohan’s lame hummus jokes."

The running hummus joke was a bit lame (although it appealed to me for entirely different reasons, ie my "issues" with hummus) and who doesn't love goats but the Palestinians weren't portrayed as ugly or dirty and only the terrorists were portrayed as terrorists. Seeing as the lead character Zohan was a "counter terrorist" you have to expect a few of his opposite number to pop up. These terrorists certainly were portrayed as incompetent and stupid - although dim witted comedy villains are hardly a new phenomenon and pretty much everyone was portrayed as stupid to one level or another. That's the kind of humour we're dealing with here.

The all white boardroom suits were portrayed as idiots, the Israelis were portrayed as backward fools, Chris Rock even played a Jamaican twit (in a one minute cameo). In other words everyone got the treatment. I'm not saying the lead (Israeli) character was not shown as sympathetic and good hearted - but as he was the one deserting the army to become a hair dresser and ends up falling in love with a Palestinian I think he's allowed to be. After all that's the kind of behaviour we on the left advocate for members of the Israeli armed forces.

The film's unquestionably insensitive and obviously there are going to be many people who cannot laugh at the subject matter - just as many find Sandler himself difficult to laugh at, no matter what film he's in. What I will say for it is that on more than one occasion Palestinian fighters are given the chance to air a genuinely political point of view that was not just about hate. Of course, there is one point where a terrorist berates a crowd who are all getting along by saying "where's the hate people?" but that was funny - and therefore acceptable.

I saw this film in a cinema jam packed with foreigners, many of whom were from the region (at least I assume they were as they laughed, very hard, at the non-English asides that were completely incomprehensible to me). I can't be certain as I didn't go up to people to check but I'm reasonably sure that there were Arabs and Israelis in the cinema all laughing their puerile heads off. In other words even the ethnic jibes were done with some affection, which is a difficult trick to pull off but it worked for this audience.

Critics of film, at least those who view it as simple propaganda, seem to ignore the core to the film and its ending (spoiler warning - not that you're going to go and see it) and are close to giving the impression that the only film on the subject they would have approved was propaganda for their point of view. The core of the film was a desire for peace and understanding and the ending involved Arabs and Israelis uniting against the "real enemy" the corporations. I shit you not. They even found some sort of workers' co-op as part of the happy ending where goat loving Palestinians and shonky electronics dealing Israelis work side by side.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not recommending you see this unless you have a thick skin and a juvenile sense of humour - and you definitely should not go and see it if you don't want to see people play hackey sack with a live cat (it's a funny scene but I know some of you love animals and that).